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Trash variable star 13 EP

Algol

RA 47.0422° · Dec 40.9556° · star

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Score breakdown

· 2 badges
13 pts · Trash
Trash 15 pts → Common
  • Has a proper name +8
  • Variable star +5
Total score 13

2 more points to reach Common.

Badges

  • Variable star · +5
  • Has a proper name · +8

Trivia

Could we get there?

  • Verdict. Hopelessly far for any craft humanity can build today.

Getting there

  • Aboard Voyager 1. ≈ 1.6 million years at Voyager 1's speed (17 km/s).
  • Fastest probe ever. ≈ 140.4 thousand years even at the Parker Solar Probe's 192 km/s.
  • At 10% light speed. ≈ 899 years in a starship at a tenth of light speed.
  • Distance. 89.9 light-years from Earth.

Look-back time

  • Look-back time. The light you'd see left around the year 1936.

Saying hello

  • Say hello. A radio message and its reply would take 180 years round-trip.

How we found it

  • Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.

Properties

absmag
-0.112
bv
-0.003
constellation
Per
dist ly
89.9245
mag
2.09
name
Algol
named
yes
spect
B8V

About Algol

Algol is a trash variable star. It lies about 89.9 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation Per, shines at apparent magnitude 2.09 and has spectral type B8V.

Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.

How to see it

Look for Algol in the constellation Per. At apparent magnitude 2.09, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.

Like any astronomical target, Algol is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.

Why Algol is a trash variable star

Algol scores 13 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the trash tier. Another 2 points would lift it into a rarer tier.

That score comes from 2 science badges — Variable star and Has a proper name — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.

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Sky imagery and survey data courtesy of Aladin Lite & CDS, Strasbourg. Object data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive, JPL Small-Body Database, and the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue.